Yet another attempt at Obamacare repeal, and McCain still isn't happy at his own party.

The Hill

Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) ripped his party's process for trying to repeal and replace ObamaCare on Monday but stopped short of saying he would oppose their latest bill.

"I have talked and talked and talked about the need to do regular order. I have amendments that I would like to have votes on ... Am I going to be able to have those, or is [it] going to be an up or down vote? That's not why I came to the Senate just to give up or down votes," McCain told reporters.

McCain was one of three GOP senators who helped sink the ObamaCare repeal effort in late July.

He added on Monday that the process around a bill from GOP Sens. Lindsey Graham (S.C.) and Bill Cassidy (La.), which could get a vote next week, was "better" but signaled that he still isn't satisfied.

"It's better but it's not what the Senate is supposed to be doing. ... Is it better to be guilty of murder or train robbery?" he asked reporters.

McCain defined "regular order" as a bill being proposed, debated and amended in committee and then taken to the Senate floor.

"I'm not the one that waited nine months ... it's not my problem that we only have those few days," he said, asked about the Senate's current time crunch.

Republicans are nearing an end-of-the-month deadline to bring an ObamaCare repeal bill straight to the Senate floor and pass it by a simple majority.

Under the process, known as vote-a-rama, senators can force a vote on an unlimited number of amendments.

With 52 seats, they need to win over at least 50 senators to let Vice President Pence break a tie. Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has already come out against the bill.

McCain noted he was undecided on the Graham-Cassidy bill.

He said his governor's endorsement was positive, but the legislation is still a "moving target."

Side note: No, McCain still isn't a democrat just because he calls out his own party. It's like if I called David Clarke a Republican because he doesn't side with his party.

That said... more and more, this battle just gets worrisome.

Yeah, but aren't Graham and McCain besties?

If anyone has a chance to to flip McCain on this bill, it's Graham.

We can probably count Murkowski and Collins out, right? If Paul is indeed a "No", then the bill is probably sunk. That being said, Paul likes to put up a show to flex his libertarian bona fides, but I doubt he'd let himself be the one final nail in the coffin on the ACA repeal.

Particularly when the replacement bill is one he can sell as a win for "States' Rights".

I've called my rep Todd Young on both his Indy and DC phone line requesting that he vote against it. He didn't listen to me last time.

You're in Indy, LOL. That's Pence's old running ground.

No shit, I've been dealing with that asshole for a while. His RIFRA bs made the whole state look bad shortly before being chosen to become the VP. Still, I feel better doing something and voicing my opinion on the matter directly to Young's voicemail (my guess is it's automatically deleted) over doing nothing. Thus far I've always attempted to be fairly nice as I don't think turning up my volume to 11 will make him or anyone else be more likely to listen. On the other hand perhaps rallies are actually the way to go.

Haha, no worries. I'm just giving you a hard time.

You're actually doing exactly what you should be doing. Stuff like that is how you shape the platform and trajectory of a party (albeit ideally from within where they're more likely to listen to you).

Props for getting involved.

Easier said than done. Being friends with someone doesn't mean making them go against their principles.

No, this bill should fail thanks to McCain, Paul, McCaskill, and Collins.

@R3FURBISHED: I agree the odds are against it. Just throwing out things the could make it different from the last effort.

You really think Rand Paul won't vote for it, though? This one seems more up his alley than the last one.

I really don't know, just looking at the Senators who have come against against or have said they have problems with the new bill.

Paul said the current bill is "Obamacare Lite" keeping up to 90% of the ACA in place.

Rand Paul: To my colleagues, I say, “No thanks.” This bill is no better than the last attempt and should receive no more support. It should not pass. I’ll vote no, and I’ll fight to stop the newest ObamaCare Lite plan.

@R3FURBISHED: Well, you're right in that if he sticks to that, the bill is dead.

So a quick update, McCain officially came out against this latest effort yesterday. The effects of watching a highly polarized majority in Congress are simply astounding to watch. It makes me really hope that the democrats don't emulate the republican strategy to take back power.

@Serraph105: "It makes me really hope that the democrats don't emulate the republican strategy to take back power."

They are really close to recreating the dynamics that led to such a result.

@mattbbpl: Yes I've noticed that. It makes me think back to that prediction of the US government not functioning properly again in our lifetime.

Does this thing have enough votes right now? One week to go and Paul and McCain are def. noes.

@HoolaHoopMan: definitely not. They need to switch at least two current "no's" for success

Good. Let it sink. It's ridiculous to think that they ran on 7 years of repeal and they can't get rid of the damn thing. It shows us that many parts of it work and are popular. At the minimum they should admit that large portions are good for the general public.

@HoolaHoopMan: That would require admitting that social services are not inherently bad, which would in turn imply that making government smaller for it's own sake is not necessarily desirable.

See the conundrum?

If anything they should just let the clock run down for this years reconciliation and then, if they really want to, try again next year. Trying to ram down a hyper-shitty bill to beat the sept 30th deadline is idiotic and makes no sense.

This bill is pulling a ~25% popularity rating. If anything like it passes the 2018 elections will make the Democratic blowout of 2010 seem tame

@PraetorianMan: This is why:

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2017/09/22/us/politics/republican-donors-obamacare-repeal.html

When all else fails, bribe.

F uck Republicans.

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